Kingston Vampire
by Problem Child1
Summary: Bonnie pulled away, brushing a piece of hair off his forehead. “What’d you say?” “‘This is the strangest life I’ve ever know.’”
1. Kingston Vampire

Disclaimer: L.J. Smith and Kevin Williamson own The Vampire Diaries. "Kingston Vampire" belongs to Pendulum and DJ Fresh.

A/N: This just kind of popped into my head and begged to be written. Set at the end of "Fool Me Once."

* * *

Jeremy had tried acid once. It hadn't gone very well. In fact, it had gone horribly. The hallucinations had been so vivid, so awful. It might have had something to do with his parents' deaths the month before, but what did he know? While everyone else had laughed about the loser kid who couldn't handle his drugs, Vicki had been the only one to sit with him for all eight hours and remind him that what he was experiencing was fake, synthetic.

Tonight, Jeremy Gilbert had come to those uncomfortable realizations that sometimes there are horrors in reality that don't even compare to what the mind can conjure up.

They thought that he'd been unconscious. They thought he hadn't heard the discussions, the spells, the arguments. They'd been wrong. Granted, he wasn't conscious for the entire time, but he'd heard enough.

Anna was a vampire. A real, honest-to-god vampire. The first girl he'd had feelings for since Vicki turned out to be a bloodsucker. Some guys had all the luck. What was it Damon had said? "Hot trumps weird?" Maybe that worked for Elena, who was dating a vampire (and that wasn't ever not going to be weird to say), but not for him.

A voice in his mind tried to convince him that he was wrong. That he did have too much to drink and he passed out. That it had all been a terrible dream.

It was futile. He'd been lucid and clearheaded and he knew. He knew the truth of Mystic Falls, the one that Elena had been hiding since she started dating her own bloodsucking fiend.

Scratch that, he knew the horror of Mystic Falls.

So he lied to Elena. He told her that he didn't remember having that much to drink, but that he must have gone overboard without realizing it because what other explanation could there be?

As soon as she left, he got on the Internet to research vampires. He wouldn't be in the dark anymore, so to speak. He would be prepared for the next time. Because he knew.


	2. I Feel Evil Creeping In

Disclaimer: L.J. Smith and Kevin Williamson own The Vampire Diaries. "Kingston Vampire" belongs to Pendulum and DJ Fresh.

A/N: So I decided that maybe this story should be a collection of drabbles that may or may not be connected, instead of just one.

* * *

"Is this how you usually spend your Saturday nights?"

Elena dropped the clothes she was folding in surprise. She should have known better to be surprised but, well, she was surprised.

"Where's Stefan to take you out for a night on the town?" Damon continued. "No dinner and dancing for the happy couple tonight? Did you guys have another fight?"

"We thought you left town. He went to go look for you, make sure you didn't do anything," she trailed off, unsure of what to tell him.

"Anything what?" In a blink of an eye he was in front of her. "Anything what, Elena? Anything stupid?"

She shook her head. "That wasn't what I was going to say."

"Maybe not in those exact words." He shrugged his shoulders. "I did leave town. For a little while. Why is my little brother looking for me, Elena? I thought you didn't want me in town. Either of you."

"Damon," Elena began.

"Elena," he mocked back. He picked up a pair of black lacy underwear lying on the top of her clothing pile. "Did you know I was going to stop by?" He waggled his eyebrows.

She snatched the underwear back from him. "What the hell are you doing here, Damon? Shouldn't you be off looking for your Katherine?"

He laughed bitterly. "Why do you care? Jealous? Is it because you know that Stefan isn't actually looking for me, but for her?"

"Unlike you, Stefan was able to get over Katherine."

"Oh, is that what he told you?" In the blink of an eye he was invading her personal space again. She took an unconscious step back, but he grabbed her by the waist and pulled her back towards him.

"Let go of me." She pushed back on his chest to no avail. His grip just tightened.

He smirked and stroked her cheek with his index finger. "Fight again. It's turning me on."

"You're so disgusting," she spit out.

"You look like her," he told her. "But you already know that. What I didn't know was how much you could act like her. I thought you were different, better than her somehow." He pushed her away and she stumbled into her dresser. "But you're just as much of a manipulative bitch."

"Get out," Elena commanded, summoning all the strength she had after that verbal blow.

"Scared without Stefan to protect you?" Damon taunted.

"Don't compare me to Katherine again."

"If the shoe fits."

"Leave."

Damon shook his head and climbed out the window. Before Elena could shut it behind him, she heard him call up to her. "Be seeing you, Elena."


	3. Where Do All My Friends Go?

Disclaimer: L.J. Smith and Kevin Williamson own The Vampire Diaries. "Kingston Vampire" belongs to Pendulum and DJ Fresh.

* * *

The bright colors of the TV flashed, but Jeremy paid no attention to it. The page of his notebook stayed blank as he stared through it, prepared to draw but unable to find inspiration. It had been a week and a half since the time with Anna in the forest, but it felt as though it was yesterday. How do you wrap your head around the fact that the things you feared as a child are real?

Elena was acting as if nothing had happened, but he could see she was just as freaked out as he was. Maybe she's just found out as well. How long had Stefan been duping her? He'd disappeared after Bonnie's grandma's funeral, but Jeremy heard Elena on the phone with him a few times. The more he thought about it, the more questions he came up with rather than answers.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Jeremy jumped in his seat. Elena laughed and sat down next to him. "Didn't mean to startle you. You looked pretty deep in though."

"Just school stuff," he lied, glancing down at the empty paper in front of him. "It's nothing."

Elena put her hand on his arm. "Are you sure? You've been kind of spaced out all week. Do you want to talk about it?"

"Honestly, I'm fine, it's just…" he trailed off, contemplating whether or not to ask her about it.

"Just what?"

He sighed. It was now or never. "How long have you known Stefan was a vampire?"

Her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. "A what? A vampire? That's crazy. Are you doing drugs again?"

"You're a really bad liar," he replied. "I know what I saw in the forest with Anna and Bonnie. I wasn't knocked out. Stefan and Damon are vampires, aren't they?"

"That-" she began to protest. "They…" her shoulders sagged and she leaned back into the couch. "They are. I'm so sorry, I didn't want to bring you into this."

"Why didn't you tell me? How can you date that? Doesn't he suck blood and sleep in a coffin?"

Elena frowned. "Stefan only drinks animal blood. And he sleeps in a bed, not a coffin."

"It doesn't matter what kind of blood it is. You're dating a vampire. You've known about this for a while, haven't you? Does he have some sort of mind control thing over you to make you okay with this?" He stood up and gathered his things. "You know what, I don't care, actually."

"Where are you going?" Elena asked as she got up with him.

"My room. I need to think about this for a while. I had my suspicions, but… Don't follow me, okay?" He sighed. "I just need to be alone right now."

She nodded, but said no more to him as he went upstairs and slammed the door. "That could have gone better," she muttered to herself as she flopped back down on the couch.


	4. Sugar and Pie

Disclaimer: L.J. Smith and Kevin Williamson own The Vampire Diaries. "Kingston Vampire" belongs to Pendulum and DJ Fresh.

A/N: I'm looking for a beta, if anyone happens to be interested.

* * *

Bonnie frowned as she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. It was probably just Elena again. She loved her best friend, but she just didn't want to talk to anyone right now. Elena would understand why she wasn't taking her calls, better than say Caroline.

She idly twirled the ice around in her glass until the bartender asked her if she wanted another one. Wordlessly she nodded as he refilled her vodka tonic.

"Of all the gin joints in the world," a voice drawled next to her.

Bonnie nearly dropped her drink in surprise. "What are you doing here?" she demanded to the intruder.

Damon chuckled. "What am I doing here? I think the better question is what you're doing here. Aren't you a little bit," he tapped his chin in thought, "underage for an establishment such as this one?" With vampiric speed he grabbed the glass from her hand and drained it.

"Go away!"

"I've got a better idea." He leaned forward and she flinched back. "Relax, little witch, I'm not going to hurt you." He signaled the bartender over. "I'll take a bottle of Gentleman Jack, two shot glasses, and a pint of Newcastle for the lady. And don't worry about the tab, it's been taken care of."

"Coming right up," the bartender replied monotonously.

"Okay, seriously, what are you doing here?" Bonnie asked.

"Is it so impossible to think that maybe you're not the only person in this goddamn town that wants to drink?" he shot back. "It's not like I intended to run into you here. Honestly, you're as paranoid as Elena."

"With good reason."

"I just cleared your bar tab and you're going to be snide? That's no way to thank me."

Bonnie opened her mouth to retort, but then closed it again. He was right. Never look a gift horse in the mouth, wasn't that how the saying went? Damon unscrewed the bottle of whiskey as soon as the bartender set it down and poured a shot for him and one for her. She hesitantly took the shot he pushed towards her.

"I've never been a huge whiskey girl," she admitted.

"That's what the beer's for." He held his glass up and clinked it with hers.

She winced as she swallowed the brown liquid. It burned all the way down and she was glad that Damon had thought to get her a chaser.

"You don't strike me as the type to have a fake," he said conversationally after she put the beer down.

Bonnie shrugged. "Caroline convinced Elena and I to get them last year. I thought now was as good a time as any to use it."

"Ah," he replied as he poured another shot, but didn't continue their conversation.

After three more shots, Bonnie's head was getting fuzzy and her movements were getting slower. It had been a while since she'd drunk so heavily. Since before Elena's parents had died, she knew that. Damon had been silent for a while, so she ventured out to maybe start a conversation.

"Why are you back? Elena told me you'd skipped town."

He looked at her sideways. "Why do you care?"

"I don't!" she replied defensively. "I was just wondering."

Damon poured himself another shot but left hers empty. He threw it back and refilled his glass, but paused before taking it. "I found her."

Bonnie sat still in shock. He found Katherine? This time he poured whiskey into both of their glasses, but she made no move to touch it. "And?"

"I found her," he repeated. "And she didn't care. She barely remembered me. So I killed her." He took his shot, then eyed her as she absorbed what he had just told her.

"Does Elena know?" Bonnie finally managed to get out.

He shook his head. "No." There was a heavy silence, then he asked, "Are you gonna take that?"


	5. Almost

Disclaimer: L.J. Smith and Kevin Williamson own The Vampire Diaries. "Kingston Vampire" belongs to Pendulum and DJ Fresh.

* * *

"I've been back for two days, yet Stefan still searches for me. You told him I was back in town, right?" Damon smirked up at Elena from where was lying on her bed.

She sat her backpack on the floor next to the door where she was standing. "Why am I not shocked you're here?"

"Tactfully avoiding the subject – I like that in a girl." He winked at her.

She rolled her eyes. "I'm not in the mood for this today, Damon."

"I could put you in the mood," he replied suggestively, rubbing the bed next to him.

Elena smiled in spite of herself. Damon Salvatore was really too charming for his own good. Or was it for her own good? Either way, she found herself sitting next to him on the bed. He casually threw an arm around her and she didn't have the strength to shrug it off. "Is there ever going to be a time that you announce it before you come over?"

"Probably not. What's the fun in life without a little surprise?"

"Still pretty fun."

Damon shook his head. "Excitement is the spice of life, my dear. So what fun can you and I have before brother Stefan comes to rain on our parade."

"On your parade," Elena corrected. "I think I've had enough excitement this past year to last a lifetime."

"Maybe that's why you haven't told Stefan to call off the search," Damon mused. "I'm here, you're here…Or maybe you did tell him and he made up an excuse to keep looking."

"He's not looking for Katherine," Elena snapped at him. Why would he want to find her, anyway?

"How can you be so sure?"

"Stop pushing it." She sighed. "I haven't told him you're back."

"The plot thickens."

Elena glared at him. "I haven't told him because his phone's been off, not because I haven't wanted to."

"I wasn't going to say that."

"You were thinking it."

Damon laughed. "I was just trying to piss you off the other day, comparing you to Katherine."

"It worked," she remarked. "I'm going to guess this is the closest thing to an apology you give?"

"I just didn't want you getting all pissy bitch on me again. But let me tell you that, as a creature of the night, you were almost scary," he informed her.

"Creature of the night? I think I see you mid afternoon more than any other time."

"That's when I'm waking up," he replied defensively. Elena giggled and he smirked at her child-like laughter. "That was cute."

She immediately stopped laughing. "I'm not a replacement for her."

He tensed when she said that. "Didn't I just say that you're not like her?"

"You said that you were just trying to piss me off," she corrected.

"I'm sorry, let me make it more clear to you," he replied condescendingly. "You're nothing like Katherine. For one, she wouldn't require clarification."

"And to think I thought we were actually having a nice conversation," Elena said humorlessly.

"We were, until you fucked it up," he snapped. "Excuse me for trying to give you a compliment."

Elena huffed and crossed her arms. "You can leave now."

"Nope," came the reply. The casual arm around her shoulder became a slightly more possessive one. "I'm here to see Elena Gilbert, not Katherine. I know you're not her. Stefan knows you're not her. Nor am I trying to replace her with you. Eventually, you're going to have to get over it. You look like her. Get over it. Just take a damn compliment."

She looked up at him. "That was almost sincere."

He smirked back down at her. "Almost."


	6. It Ain't Easy

Disclaimer: L.J. Smith and Kevin Williamson own The Vampire Diaries. "Kingston Vampire" belongs to Pendulum and DJ Fresh.

A/N: It's so easy for me to write Jeremy, I can't even explain it.

* * *

If Bonnie Bennett had to make a list of people she thought would call her wanting to talk, Jeremy Gilbert would be number two, right under Damon Salvatore. And yet he had called her, sounding almost frantic, so she told him to come over after dinner.

Her mind boggled as she thought about what Jeremy could want to talk about. Maybe her Gramms? It'd only been a week and a half, and he'd gone to the funeral. Plus, he was pretty knowledgeable about grieving. Or maybe he found out that Elena was adopted? She knew that Jeremy was doing better with the drug use or lack thereof, but that newfound insight might push him to relapse. Elena had been his rock after the accident.

Bonnie had worried herself into such a state that when Jeremy sat her down and said, "Vampires are real," she almost laughed, but checked herself.

She gave him a sad smile. He looked so frazzled. "I know. I've known for a while."

"Why I am the last to know everything?" he cried in frustration. "And Elena acts as if it's no big deal. Vampires! Vampires fucking exist and it's no big deal? What else from my childhood is a lie?"

Bonnie could have cried for him. Uncharacteristically she pulled him into a hug. It caught him off guard for a second before he wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his head in the crook of her neck. They sat there for a few minutes until he mumbled something. Bonnie pulled away, brushing a piece of hair off his forehead.

"What'd you say?"

"'This is the strangest life I've ever know,'" he repeated. This time she did laugh. He smiled and shook his head. "This past year has been so surreal. I'm sorry about your Gramms. She was a good lady. I'm here for you if you want to talk. I know I don't have the best track record with coping, but I can listen."

"Thanks, Jeremy." She reached over to give his hand a squeeze, but quickly retracted it. Why was she being so touchy with him? She'd never been so before. She decided to switch gears. "How did you find out?"

"I wasn't totally unconscious that night. And Anna… her face got all weird. I did a little research to confirm my suspicions. My sister's dating a vampire! A vampire made us dinner tonight. And I'm supposed to be okay with it?"

"Stefan's back?" Bonnie frowned. She was sure Elena would have told her.

"No. Damon. He's cool, I guess. A little too into my sister, but cool."

"She's the spitting image of his dead girlfriend," she told him off-handedly.

"Oh. Well, that's definitely weird." He paused. "You know, as far as weird goes."

"It takes some getting used to," she admitted. "Knowing that everything like that is out there. But I think it's a good thing that you found out. You don't really need to be protected."

"You're the first person to say that. Everyone walks on eggshells around me, afraid that I'll relapse. That whole escapism thing got old." He got up. "I have to go. I told Jenna I was going on a walk. Thanks for listening to me, though. It really helped."

She got up with him to walk him to the door. "Anytime. Did you want a ride home?"

He shook his head. "I think a walk to collect my thoughts will do some good." He was almost out the door when he turned back around. "Listen, um, this whole talking thing.

Did you want to do it again? Maybe over like dinner or something?"

"Wednesday?"

He smiled widely at her. "I'll give you a call. Bye, Bonnie."

"Bye, Jeremy." She shut the door and chewed on her bottom lip. How was Elena going to react?


End file.
